


Let It Snow

by inawasteland



Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-22
Updated: 2014-12-22
Packaged: 2018-03-02 18:36:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,819
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2822132
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inawasteland/pseuds/inawasteland
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Every year, Tucker throws an extravagant Christmas party.  And every year, Church pines over his ex-girlfriend who left him without so much as a goodbye.  But this year, something has changed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Let It Snow

**Author's Note:**

> Written as a gift for [ivori](http://ivori.tumblr.com/) in the RvB Secret Santa 2014 gift exchange! She requested anything blue team, and I couldn't resist when this idea popped into my head.

The holidays were the worst time of the year for Church. They were supposed to be this happy time of year, where even the grumpiest of people cheered themselves right up and donned ugly sweaters. Not even the most beautifully decorated of houses could bring a smile to Church’s face.

In his hands, Church grasped an old photograph of this girl he used to date, Tex. His knuckles were white with the strength with which he held onto it. There was a certain anguish deep in his heart, his whole body trembling as he recalled just _why_ he hated Christmas. That phone call he received December 23 two years ago. _She was gone_. Not physically gone, no, at least that would have been more final than this. Just skipped town and wouldn’t be coming to dinner with his parents as they had planned. Wouldn’t be opening all those gifts that he had gotten her.

“C’mon, man, you can’t _seriously_ be pining over her still,” was Tucker’s response when he noticed that Church was busy staring at Tex’s photo instead of helping putting up the gaudiest of decorations.

The glare that Tucker received in return was enough to convince him to lay off.

Two years and the feeling was still raw within him. Sure, their relationship wasn’t exactly the healthiest, but it was still his first long-term girlfriend. And the way the relationship ended gave him no warning, no way of coping. No _closure_. Just “goodbye, be seeing you, Church.” Which, of course, was a lie because Church hadn’t seen her since.

Not that Church attempted to contact her after that. Not that Church ignored any phone call from her after that.

“Not this year,” Church mumbled to himself as he carefully disassembled the frame and pulled the photograph out. While Tucker was busy hanging garland across the fireplace, Church took out his lighter and let the photograph burn to ashes. And as the ashes scattered across the room ( “ _Goddammit_ Church,” he would hear later, “you better be sweeping that shit up >”) he decided it was time to let her go, to find someone else more deserving of his affection.

//

When Tucker found the blank frame where the picture of Allison used to be, he thought it was a mistake. Surely Church _didn’t_ actually get rid of that photograph? But then he saw the lighter on the table, along with the ashes on the floor, and there was no mistaking the corner of the picture that hadn’t been engulfed in flames.

Two years had passed since she had broken his heart, and Tucker wasn’t sure if he was relieved or worried that Church had destroyed her picture.

He settled for relieved, only because he couldn’t handle worrying over his best friend this year. It was bad enough to look after Caboose and make sure he didn’t burn down their kitchen trying to make Christmas cookies...

And then he scolded Church for leaving the ashes without picking them up because goddammit it’s no use moving on from that hot mess of a relationship if you’re just going to let her trash _linger in the middle of the fucking kitchen_.

It was easy enough to forget all about that, though, when their humble home was fully decked out with enough pine to fill a forest and plenty of garish decorations to make even the most homely of grandmas cringe. Not to mention there was enough strategically placed mistletoe for Tucker to steer _all the ladies_ to. Now they were finally ready for all the Christmas shenanigans to begin, starting with inviting everyone they knew to the holiday party to end all holiday parties. Surely, with Allison off Church’s brain, he would be able to enjoy himself, right?

Except, Tucker knew Church, and he knew that just destroying the photograph was only a small step and meant nothing if he didn’t actually let her go.

//

Every year, Tucker, Church, and Caboose would host a holiday party, and every year well more than the original invites would show up. And yet, every year, Tucker would invite the same people without anticipating the same outcome. Church normally hated the crowds, but in this instance, he was welcoming them. Maybe being surrounded by people would be a good distraction. He had a feeling that he was going to need one.

Dressed in a blue button down tucked into a pair of nice slacks, Church looked into the mirror, contemplating whether or not he should shave. His facial hair was not grown in enough to denote a full _beard_ per se, but that was the general idea. Did he want to go clean shaven or just clean it up a bit? He opted for the latter, not ready to hack off the whole thing.

When the doorbell rang, Church knew the party was on. He drew in a deep breath and got ready to join the festivities.

As far as parties went, Tucker was a _really_ good host. Church had to hand it to him, he knew how to keep the guests satisfied. Between making sure they were well fed and filled with booze and making sure the music never stopped, Tucker had it down to a science. Which was a very good thing since Church was usually not very good at any of that.

This year though, he tried. He really tried to help out, but he just was not cut out for pleasantries. So he just tried to keep an eye on Caboose, as usual, to make sure he didn’t destroy the house at any point in the night. When Tucker would disappear, Church did what he could to make sure the party still went smoothly, but a part of him really resented Tucker for going off without letting anyone know where he was.

It wasn’t anything unusual from the past years. Usually it was prefaced by Tucker leading one of the ladies off to wherever he strategically placed mistletoe. And in past years, Church was completely fine with it. So what the hell was different about this year?  
 Well, this year he wasn’t too busy wallowing over his own despair to even notice what it was that Tucker got up to in his absence.

This year, Church wasn’t going to stand for it. So he excused himself and made sure that Caboose was distracted enough (he was too busy talking to Sarge, which meant he was in fairly good hands) before leaving to find Tucker. He wasn’t even sure what he would do or say when he _found_ Tucker but now that he had a mission, he wasn’t going to stop until that mission was completed.

And find him Church did: under the mistletoe, as he expected, _attached_ to some stranger, and who know who she was friend with anyway? A feeling developed in the pit of his stomach and before Church understood what he was doing, he cleared his throat to try and get their attention. It was the woman that pulled away first, blushed with embarrassment when she realized they were discovered, and excused herself to get back to the party.

“What the _fuck_ Church, can’t you see I was busy?”

And for some reason, Tucker’s voice brought him back to reality. Shame filled Church’s face while his cheeks flushed and he stammered out an apology before turning to go back to the party. But Tucker’s hand on his arm stopped him, kept him from running away like he normally would, always running away from his problems.

“Jesus Christ, Church, come here. What the hell was that all about?”

And Church, realizing that Tucker was not going to let him go without an explanation, just surrendered and slouched, his eyes trained on the ground. He didn’t even know how to explain it, the feeling of resentment at Tucker getting to have all the fun, of leaving all the hosting abilities on him, of hooking up with random chicks. None of it really should have caused the reaction that it did, and yet...

//

When it came to parties, Tucker never compromised on _anything_. No detail was left out, and yeah the decorations looked tacky as fuck, but it left an imprint into the minds of all his guests.

That and it lent to a lot of hiding places for mistletoe. Why else would he have his friends invite _their_ lady friends?

The nice thing about the spiked eggnog was that he generally didn’t have to do much convincing when he got the ladies to the mistletoe spots. But that was all that would transpire, a little bit of making out, nothing else. He knew better than to let things get carried away, especially if he was supposed to be a host. He couldn’t trust Caboose enough to keep things from getting out of hand, and Church was too busy moping over Tex or looking after Caboose to take over his hosting duties.

So that was why when he heard Church clear his throat, he was incredibly confused. His first instinct was to lash out, because what the fuck he was busy! And it wasn’t like he was gone for that long, he made sure just in case his absence actually went noticed.

Well, apparently it didn’t go unnoticed.

But then Church was retreating, the visible shame making Tucker feel guilty about lashing out at him, and Tucker grabbed his wrist because fuck that shit, he wasn’t letting this be forgotten like ashes being scattered and lost to the wind. He was going to get to the bottom of this right here, right now, away from the party guests. The lady he had lured to the mistletoe excused herself, and Tucker let her go because right now he was more worried about what drove Church to interrupting him in the first place.

“C’mon man, fess up. What’s got you so surly today? Is it Tex, is it because she didn’t come because fuck her dude, you deserve better than that bitch.” And he knew he hit a nerve because Church winced when he called her a bitch. But in Tucker’s view, she was. To just disappear like that, without a reasonable explanation, without letting Church say goodbye. It was an awful thing to do, and Tucker couldn’t blame Church for reacting the way he did. But he also knew it wasn’t healthy for him to hold on for so long.

When Church just shrugged though, instead of berating Tucker for calling her that (and Church had a habit of defending her against Tucker, even when she didn’t always deserve it) he knew that this was more complicated. There was something else at work, but Tucker couldn’t quite put his finger on it.

“Then if it’s not Tex, what is it?” Tucker asked, his voice a little bit softer, a little less accusatory. His eyebrows furrowed in confusion as his eyes focused on Church, whose eyes were focused on the ground. It appeared that Church was just as confused about this as Tucker was, so maybe he wasn’t even aware of what was eating him.

What happened next was like a whirlwind, because in a flash Church’s eyes were no longer looking at the ground, but were looking right at Tucker. And then there were fingers framing his jaw followed by lips pressed against his, giving Tucker next to no time to react at all.

What went through Tucker’s mind was as follows: _Oh, those are lips. Against mine. Lips and..._ stubble? _Church._ Church _is kissing me._

When it fully processed that his best friend, his best _male_ friend was kissing him, there were no alarm bells ringing in his head. He didn’t pull away. Instead, he pulled Church closer and sighed against his lips before shifting so that he could kiss Church properly.

If there was one thing Tucker was better at than planning parties, it was kissing. And while the idea of kissing another man would normally not compute (Tucker was the _king_ of “no homo”) perhaps it was the spiked eggnog that was causing his head to go just fuzzy enough to stop worrying so damn much. Or perhaps it was just that he and Church had straddled that line between friends and...something else so much that Tucker just didn’t care anymore.

Whatever it was, Tucker was quite content to keep kissing Church. And since Church did not appear to be giving this any second thoughts, neither would Tucker.

When Church finally pulled back for air, Tucker felt more light-headed than he had ever felt after kissing any of the women that had showed up to the party. Then again, Tucker normally dealt in non-serious hookups with women he hardly knew and Church was different. Church, who he knew for nearly a decade by now. Church, with his emotional baggage and with his weird neuroses. This would be complicated in the morning, but dammit Tucker just didn’t want to think right now.

When neither of them were actually pulling away from each other - Tucker with an arm hooked around Church’s waist and Church with hand still at Tucker’s jaw - Tucker felt his cheeks flush just enough and a nervous laugh spilled out because, well, he was speechless for once.

“Say something,” he whispered, and if his hand moved up and down Church’s back, then, well, he couldn’t be held accountable for any actions that his body did of its own accord.

“How much longer do you think the party is going to go on for?” came Church’s reply.

And when Tucker looked at his watch and cursed the fact that the party would normally go on at least for another couple of hours. If only Caboose were trustworthy enough that they could slip out without anyone noticing. But if they did that then the house would be destroyed for sure...

“How long do you think it would take to get everyone out of here?” Tucker countered.

And the smirk that came from Church told Tucker that they were very much on the same page.

//

When the full realization hit Church, of what he had impulsively done, he was surprisingly not as freaked out as he should have been. Which, considering he had nothing to drink the whole night, was pretty impressive. He owed a lot of this confidence about his decision to Tucker similarly not freaking out. It definitely helped that his best friend didn’t seem to mind at all, in fact he was taking this awfully well considering Tucker was probably worse than he was when it came to the “no homo” stuff.

After they managed to shoo all of the party guests out, leaving Caboose passed out on the couch, Church helped clean up so that in the morning they didn’t have so much crap to do. But this was the last thing Church wanted to do. His hands itched to hold Tucker again, his lips still tasted of eggnog, licked off Tucker’s lips.

He couldn’t recall a time he was ever this desperate for more with Tex.

When it seemed like most of their work was finished, Church shuffled over to Tucker, who was in the midst of wiping the remnants of a spill on the kitchen floor, and knelt down so that he was level with his friend. He waited until Tucker’s eyes glanced up from the tiled floor and, without a word, Church extended a hand, which Tucker gladly took. Church used his free hand to grab the sponge from Tucker and toss it in the sink (without even looking at the sink, and he inwardly cheered at that achievement). He pulled Tucker back towards him and sighed happily as their lips met once more.

He wasn’t sure what it was that made Church feel so giddy. Was it because this was something new? Or because this was Tucker, someone he knew so well and yet was discovering for the first time in a new way? Whatever it was, Church didn’t want to let go. There was no mistletoe above their head this time. No excuse if they wanted to laugh all of this off. No, Church was kissing Tucker simply because he _wanted_ to.

And this time it was Tucker who pulled away first. The two of them were breathless and looking each other with a hunger Church can’t even remember seeing in Tucker before, let alone himself.

“We can clean up the rest in the morning, right?” came Church’s voice, nerves causing it to go higher pitched towards the end.

“Yeah, I think we’ve done enough tonight,” Tucker responded, and Church was vaguely aware of a hand brushing through his hair, tugging gently at the strands. “To bed?”

“I thought you’d never ask.” With the corner of his mouth quirking slightly up, Church led the way up the stairs without even bothering to check on Caboose (who was still snoring on the couch, thankfully).


End file.
